Home/Finance/ Top White House economist fact-checks Trump on GDP claim

Top White House economist fact-checks Trump on GDP claim

Wayne Curry |Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Top White House economist fact-checks Trump on GDP claim

Kevin Hassett, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, on Monday told reporters President Donald Trump tweeted an incorrect claim that United States gross domestic product had surpassed the rate of unemployment for the first time in more than a century.

"The president wrote: "'President Trump would need a magic wand to get to 4% GDP, ' stated President Obama.

Following last Friday's blockbuster August jobs report, and with nail-biting midterm elections less than 60 days away, the 44th and 45th presidents crossed swords, with Mr Trump continuing to counterpunch through the weekend and into Monday morning.

But the Obama administration also celebrated economic gains, with a 5.1 percent GDP in the second quarter of 2014 and four quarters of growth above the 4.0 percentage rate.

"And at some point, somebody probably conveyed it to him, adding a zero to that, and they shouldn't have done that", he said.

Last Friday, former President Obama attempted to take credit for the Trump economy, arguing that he started a trend of economic recovery that continued into Donald Trump's presidency. Trump went on to argue, "I guess I have a magic wand, 4.2%, and we will do MUCH better than this! We have just begun".

"Some of those jobs of the past are just not going to come back", Obama said, during a town hall in June 2016 criticizing Trump's campaign.

Asked about the veracity of the statement later that day at a White House press briefing, Hassett said: "So I can tell you what is true".

"I'm not the chairman of the council of Twitter advisers", he added later. "It's the highest in 10 years".

"I think President Obama is a powerful reminder of what a presidential leader looks like, and that's a contrast to Donald Trump", Katie Porter, who is running to unseat California Republican Rep. Mimi Walters, told Politico. Trump said Monday in a posting on Twitter.

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